You will be required to engage in a course consulting project (30% of your final course grade) that does two things as a Strategic HR leader: 1) Offers up a suite of HR-driven initiatives to an organization based on an assessment of strategic opportunities that builds performance, increases capabilities, reduces costs and/or otherwise drives business/organizational results. 2) Outlines the critical success factors in selected initiative performance including the specific deployment of strategic HR leader skills, knowledge to enable/drive/lead for success. The intent of the project is to experience operating as a high-level strategic HR leader in identifying, scoping, framing-up and deploying initiatives and plans for building both HR and organizational effectiveness.The project is meant to be an HR Leader consulting report that offers up strategic solutions to org effectiveness while at the same time strategies for building HR leader/employee effectiveness to deliver such. The report will be based on actual assessments you will make within your or another organization, and then a plan for building strategic “Presence” for HR through initiatives and capabilities development. The project is not about installing a new HRIS system or improving staffing results, but a larger, more strategic approach to enabling org performance as a strategic partner. Length: 7-9 double-spaced pages in MS Word, not including any charts, graphs or references made (which REALLY help the grading scores!). Grading: Grading is a function of quality of thinking, effort made, relevance, following the directions and guidance offered and overall evidence of scholarly application of approaches to building HR strategic capability. Please Note: The course project is just that – a project and not a term paper on some minor aspect such as improving recruiting or deploying an HRIS system. Rather it is a comprehensive approach to building & deploying HR strategic presence within an organization for improving results delivery (overall business/organizational results). Please re-read this so there are no surprises when you submit the wrong-focused project. Here’s the outline recommended for the project write-up which we will discuss during week two. I. Current Situation/State of Success of the organization (about 30% of write-up) -Org effectiveness today, competitive advantages/disadvantages, issues, challenges, opportunities -Cultural effectiveness, efficacy, situation (provides background to the current state). -SWOT, Critical Implications & Key Success Levers. II. Current Effectiveness & Improvement of Human Resources Capabilities (about 20%) -HR capabilities, structure, deficiencies, challenges, opportunities -Org Leader Perceptions of HR, Involvement in strategic processes, management, etc.-Top priorities for HR capability improvement (Assessing opportunities, framing up initiatives, influencing top leaders, managing execution). III.Improving Organizational Performance (remember this isn’t about an HR initiative here and there) (40% of write-up) -Objectives and strategies to act upon opportunities – based on CIs and KSLs above. -Influence plan for gaining support -Structuring initiatives-Key initiatives management-Measures of success-HR Imperatives in Being Successful The remaining 10% of the grade will be based on format, perceived effort made, detail, use of charts, graphs, supporting data appendices. Overall this is to be a consulting report to top management on improving the performance of the organization. Project is due the last day of the course. ———————- The Course Project You will be required to engage in a course consulting project (30% of your final course grade) that does two things as a Strategic HR leader: 1) Offers up a suite of HR-driven initiatives to an organization based on an assessment of strategic opportunities that builds performance, increases capabilities, reduces costs and/or otherwise drives business/organizational results. These are not HR initiatives, but org performance-building initiatives (such as restructure, org redesign, Build Vision strategies, build leader capability, design and deploy an innovation strategy, business expansion, etc.) 2) Outlines the critical success factors in selected initiative performance including the specific deployment of strategic HR leader skills, knowledge to enable/drive/lead for success. The intent of the project is to experience operating as a high-level strategic HR leader in identifying, scoping, framing-up and deploying initiatives and plans for building both HR and organizational effectiveness (though the main focus is on the organization). The project is meant to be an HR Leader consulting report that offers up strategic solutions to org effectiveness while at the same time strategies for building HR leader/employee effectiveness to deliver such. (Not on building HR capabilities alone). The report will be based on actual assessments you will make within your or another organization, and then a plan for building strategic “Presence” for HR through initiatives and capabilities development. The project is not about installing a new HRIS system or improving staffing results, but a larger, more strategic approach to enabling org performance as a strategic partner. *Please reread this as you will fail this course if you deliver an HR term paper. Length: 7-9 double-spaced pages in MS Word, not including any charts, graphs or references made (which REALLY help the grading scores!). Grading: Grading is a function of quality of thinking, effort made, relevance, following the directions and guidance offered and overall evidence of scholarly application of approaches to building HR strategic capability. Please Note: The course project is just that – a project and not a term paper on some minor aspect such as improving recruiting or deploying an HRIS system. Rather it is a comprehensive approach to building & deploying HR strategic presence within an organization for improving results delivery (overall business/organizational results). Please re-read this so there are no surprises when you submit the wrong-focused project. Please, Please, Please read the above again! About 15% of students do not read this and are surprised to fail the course project. The course project is due the last day of the course and is typically graded within 7-10 working days and reported in conjunction with the final grade memo sent to you via email. Here’s the outline recommended for the project write-up which we will discuss during week two. I. Current Situation/State of Success of the organization (about 30% of write-up) -Org effectiveness today, competitive advantages/disadvantages, issues, challenges, opportunities -Cultural effectiveness, efficacy, situation (provides background to the current state). -SWOT, Critical Implications & Key Success Levers. II. Current Effectiveness of Human Resources in Business Strategy partnership (about 20%) -HR capabilities, structure, deficiencies, challenges, opportunities -Org Leader Perceptions of HR, Involvement in strategic processes, management, etc.-Top priorities for HR capability improvement (Assessing opportunities, framing up initiatives, influencing top leaders, managing execution). This part looks at HR’s ability to engage, collaborate and otherwise be effecetively involved in performance strategies. III. Improving Organizational Performance (remember this isn’t about an HR initiative here and there) (40% of write-up) -Objectives and strategies to act upon opportunities – based on CIs and KSLs above. -Influence plan for gaining support -Structuring initiatives-Key initiatives management-Measures of success-HR Imperatives in Being Successful The remaining 10% of the grade will be based on format, perceived effort made, detail, use of charts, graphs, supporting data appendices.
